Dec 3, 2011

Around the World Challenge

Sadly, this does not mean I will be physically traveling around the world in 2012. Maybe some other year that will happen. Instead, I will be literarially (yes, I made up that word) globe-trotting, by reading a book from a different country each month.

1. Books must be set in the country. (For help, try this website.)2. Books should be by an author of that country, if you can find/get hold of one.3. Books must be fiction or memoir. Children’s books count too.4. Books can count towards other challenges.

Questions to consider while reading/reviewing:

What did you learn about the country’s culture, history etc.
from reading this book? Any new insights, any shifts in your perception,
or did it align with what you knew/understood already?

How did land, geography, flora and fauna feature in the book? Did it
have a distinct feel that helped you visualise and made you feel like
you were there, or was the story more focused on plot?

Did the story make you want to visit/revisit the country, or
explore it in a new way if you live there already; did it make you want
to read more stories set in the country?

I will be blogging about the books I read for this challenge throughout the year, and encourage you to sign up at Giraffe Days so you can be a part of this, too.

For January, I have chosen to read Spud by John van de Ruit. This is a teen novel that, despite having sold as a bookseller in the past, I've never actually read yet have always wanted to. Perfect opportunity! Here is the publisher description:

It's 1990. Apartheid is crumbling. Nelson Mandela has just been
released from prison. And Spud Milton--thirteen-year-old, prepubescent
choirboy extraordinaire--is about to start his first year at an elite
boys-only boarding school in South Africa. Cursed with embarrassingly
dysfunctional parents, a senile granny named Wombat, and a wild
obsession for Julia Roberts, Spud has his hands full trying to adapt to
his new home.

Armed with only his wits and his diary, Spud takes
readers of all ages on a rowdy boarding school romp full of illegal
midnight swims, raging hormones, and catastrophic holidays that will
leave the entire family in total hysterics and thirsty for more.

The countries are pre-assigned, but I've decided I like that. Otherwise, I might try to take the easy way out and then it won't be a challenge. There are many countries I've never thought of reading a book about or from, and I'm excited to explore the possibilities. I hope you decide to do this, too! Also because then I can pick your brain for suggestions. :)

I'd Like to Thank the Academy...

Pulp Romance by Maria Dahvana Headley

He saw her across a crowded shelf.

Her deckle-edge was seductively deep, her endpapers velvety. She was a first edition, probably autographed. Any man would want to write his name in a book like her.

She noticed him perusing her pages, and blushed. He had a hard spine, and a crisp dust jacket. His eyes were capitalized, and in an obscure font designed in Amsterdam in 1786. She caught herself glancing at his flyleaf, and looked away, mortified.

They were in the YA section, and she was acting like a common galley.

"Can I have your ISBN?" he whispered. He could nearly see her addendum.